


An Unlikely Team-Up

by Lucy_Luna



Series: My Memories Came Back in the Form of Someone Else [6]
Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hostage Situations, Post-Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-10-23 20:28:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17690294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucy_Luna/pseuds/Lucy_Luna
Summary: When Gwen agreed to have her band play at a police outreach event for her dad, all she thought she'd have to do that day was play her drums and not make an embarrassment out of herself or her band on stage. Donning her mask and teaming up with Prowler hadn't been a part of the day's agendaat all.





	1. Calm Before the Storm

It wasn't going to be a big gig by any means and even though MJ was annoyed they weren't allowed to play any of their own stuff, the rest of them were happy for the chance to play for a sizable crowd. Even if that crowd was a bunch of little kids and their parents. Though Gwen was sure most weren't going to really pay them any steady attention with the game, food, and prize stands all around. She was actually pretty relieved about that. Gwen actually felt a little embarrassed that she'd gotten her bandmates into this. She should have insisted her dad tell her more about the "police thing" he wanted her and her band to play at when he asked if she thought they'd like to.

Gwen had her head propped on the heel of her hand while she watched her bandmates tune their instruments and fiddle with their microphones. Abruptly, her attention was drawn away by her spidey-sense informing her of an incoming projectile. Turning, she was able to catch Miles as he flung himself at her just in time. She threw him up in the air a moment before setting him down on her knee. "Hey, Miles," she said. "Are you excited for the fair?"

"Yeah!" he enthused as he reached for one of her sticks. Picking it up, he looked at her with big, brown eyes and asked, "Can I play with your drums for a little bit?"

Gwen looked around the slowly growing swells of people. "Where's your mom? Or did your dad bring you?"

Miles looked away from her drums and scanned the crowd with narrowed eyes. Finally, he pointed off to the right where hidden by an awning of a food truck, you could just barely make out Rio and… Aaron? What was he doing here? A police outreach program didn't seem to really be the kind of thing he'd be into even as a civilian. "Mom's buying us water!" he told her.

Gwen sighed and decided to get them to their feet. "I bet you didn't tell your mom or uncle you were coming over here, did you?"

He pouted. "No…"

She grabbed his hand. "Let's get you back to them before they start to worry."

"Chill, Gwen!" MJ called, twisting around to look at the two of them. "I'll just announce he's over here and then you can let the cutie rock out on your drums for a couple of minutes," she said, winking at Miles, who grinned back, overjoyed he wouldn't have to go back to his mom just yet.

Gwen, however, wanted to sink down to the floor behind her drums. This just felt kind of embarrassing. She didn't  _want_  Rio and Aaron coming up to the stage to see her behind her drums or even really pay her to much attention. It was one thing playing for what was essentially all strangers versus people she liked (well, maybe that was too strong a word for Aaron, but… She definitely didn't  _dislike_  him).

"Attention! Attention Mrs.— Um, Miles's Mom! He's over here on the stage with the band!"

Rio stepped out from beneath the food truck's awning and put her hand above her eyes as she looked straight over at the stage. Upon spotting them, she let her hand fall to her hip and gave a shake of her head before apparently saying something to Aaron, because he was suddenly laughing after just staring at them all with his arms crossed. A moment later, Aaron had a hand on Rio's shoulder and the two of them began to quickly make their way over to Gwen, her bandmates, and Miles.

"They heard," Miles said, "so can I play now?"

Gwen sighed and handed over her remaining stick. "Jam away, kid," she replied.

Miles wasted no time and immediately began to wail on the drums, creating a cringe-inducing cacophony as he tried out all of the different drums. Unable to take any more noise after only a minute, Gwen grabbed his hands and suggested, "How about I show you how to do the beat to 'Another One Bites the Dust'? You know that song, right?"

"Yeah!"

Relieved, Gwen took one of the sticks and said, "You can play the snare while I do the rest, how's that?"

"Okay!" Miles agreed.

As Gwen took him through the steps and played it with him, Rio and Aaron reached the stage where they were then intercepted by her bandmates who made conversation with them as she wrapped up her impromptu lesson. When done, she lifted Miles off her lap and gave him a little poke in the back with one of her sticks to prompt him to head toward his mom.

" _Mijo_!" she exclaimed, opening her arms to her son and catching him as he hopped off the stage.

Stoked from his little music lesson, the kid said, "Mom! Mom! Did you see me? I played the beat to 'Another One Bites the Dust!'"

Rio placed a big kiss on her son's cheek. "I saw and you did such a good job, Miles!"

Gwen chuckled before she jumped off the stage to join the trio. "Is Mr. Davis going to be here later?" she asked them.

Rio shook her head. "No, he had to work today, but he told Miles you would be playing and well…"

"I wanted to see you play in your band," Miles finished, grinning.

Gwen ruffled the kid's hair. "Aw, thanks. It'll be great to have a fan in the crowd." Of course, that was a lie. But Miles didn't need to know that. He was just trying to be nice she knew and really, he wasn't the one who was going to make her nervous as she played.  _That_  honor went to Aaron.

Miles puffed out his chest and Gwen giggled into her hand, only to catch the gaze of Aaron, who smirked at her. "Is this your girls first gig?" he asked.

"No," MJ answered for both of them. "But this is our biggest yet!"

He whistled and stuck his hands in his pockets as he looked around. "Yeah? Good for you, ladies."

Gwen rolled her eyes as MJ and the rest flushed with pleasure and began to whisper amongst themselves. She wasn't even surprised they were so affected by a little compliment from Aaron. Miles obviously got his charm somewhere and as nice as Officer Davis was, it wasn't him. He was way too  _dad_  to get a bunch of teenage girls gossiping and crushing. "I'm surprised you're here," she said, "a police outreach event doesn't really seem your…  _style_."

Aaron narrowed his eyes for all of a second before he grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I'm not gonna pass up an invite from my little nephew," he replied as he reached down to ruffle Mile's hair, who now stood between him and Rio.

She nodded. She kind of wanted to needle him a little more about being out of place at a place like this, but that'd be mean and weird and put her at risk of revealing all her cards before she was ready. "Miles is persuasive," she agreed, smiling.

Aaron looked like he was going to say more when one of the event-planners walked up and started to wave his arms at Gwen and the rest of her band. "Hurry, hurry!" he exclaimed. "Finish warming up, you guys are supposed to be playing for real in ten minutes!"

MJ and the other girls gave small shrieks and cries of dismay before scrambling back up on the stage and to their instruments. Gwen, though, reached down to hug Miles and told him, "Our first break is in a couple of hours. Do you want to meet at the face paint station then and get matching spiders on our cheeks?" she asked.

The boy gave an excited whoop. "Oh yeah!" Looking up at Rio, he begged, "We can stay that long and do that can't we, Mom?"

She smiled down at her son. "Of course,  _papí_."

"It'd be my treat, by the way," she decided to add as she got back to her feet and brushed off her knees. "You gotta show love to your fans who support you, you know?"

Rio grinned. "That's very kind of you, Gwen, but I can pay for Miles. I know you kids aren't getting paid to be here."

"Really, Mrs. Morales—"

"—Naw, how about I pay for it? To thank you both. You, for inviting me, Rio, and you for playing for us, Gwen?" Aaron broke in, voice firm in its decision and, really, leaving no room for argument.

"Thanks, Mr. Davis," she replied as Rio echoed a similar sentiment

Aaron clicked his tongue and said, "It's Aaron, girl. And it ain't nothing to thank me for."

She was going to express her gratitude again, but MJ yelled into her mic, "Gwen! Get up here! We're going to start any minute!"

Gwen cringed at the chastisement. With quiet exhale, she waved at the Morales and Aaron before clambering up the stage and getting back behind her drums. From her position on the stage, she smiled when she saw Miles wave one last time at her before he took Rio's hand and let himself be led over to some game nearby as she turned her attention to her bandmates, looking for the cues she needed to know when to start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this will be the series's first foray into a multi-chap. Not a long one, mind, but still. How'd you like the first chapter?
> 
> Please let me know your thoughts (complimentary and critical) with a comment and/or kudo :)


	2. Fairground Turned Battleground

It was shortly after she went back on the stage after her band’s break and her face-painting session with Miles that her spidey-sense started to go crazy. Initially, she couldn’t figure out why and tried to focus on playing her part for the band as she kept an eye on the crowds milling around. It was shortly thereafter she realized why her senses where going off like danger was surrounding her from every angle. It was because it _was._ There were a lot of big and burly and threatening men popping up in the crowds now and none of them had little kids or wives or girlfriends anywhere near them. Worst of all, they all appeared to be looking up at the exact same location. Gwen tried to turn her gaze up to where they were staring surreptitiously, but found the awning hanging over her the stage her band was playing on blocked her view of where they were looking.

Silently, she cursed to herself. Of all the places and all of the possible times! As she did her best not to lose time while playing her drums, Gwen began to run through the possibilities of what was about to happen. Was this police outreach fair about to turn into some kind of gang-fight battleground? Was this place about to turn into a mass robbery scene with everyone’s pockets fleeced of their cash and all of the stand’s registers and money-boxes stolen? Or… Was this something else? As she continued to scan the menacing people surrounding the stage for some sort of indicator, her eyes briefly met Aaron’s. His eyes were dark with anger and he had one hand on Rio’s shoulder and an arm wrapped protectively around Miles. Gwen didn’t know if she should feel relieved, but she did. She wasn’t the only one who saw something was wrong. Now if only the off-duty cops milling around would pick up what she and Aaron already had!

All of a sudden, a man rushed the stage and MJ and the other girls screamed. It only took a moment for Gwen to realize why. He had a gun pointed right at all of them. Getting to her feet, she put up her hands and stepped away from her drums as he jumped up on the stage and picked up the microphone MJ had dropped as she’d thrown herself off the stage to get away from the man.

“Everyone on the ground!” he yelled into the microphone as he waved around his gun and the other men he was within the crowds began to brandish their own array of weapons at the people near them. “Now!” he roared as the fair-goers started to shriek and holler in fear. The men on the fairgrounds began to repeat the one’s orders to those nearest to them, menacing them into compliance with their weapons. As everyone began to lay face-down on the ground with their arms laid out in front of them or resting on the backs of their heads, Gwen very slowly backed herself into the support beam behind her drumkit. Keeping her eyes on the man on the stage who was still yelling out orders as he and the rest of his goons made sure everyone did as they were told, she used her spider-powers to climb up the beam and hide in the shadows created by the awning and equipment up above the stage.

There, she listened as the man said, “Alright! None of ya are gonna get hurt as long as our demands are met!” Gwen couldn’t help but roll her eyes. God, did these people have  _any_ creativity at all? She reached down and pulled the hem of her shirt up. Was she glad she’d decided she was going to do a patrol after the outreach fair today. As she stripped out her civvie-clothes and shoved them between some gaps in the support beams around her, she only paid half-an-ear to the ravings of the madman on the stage. He was going on about releasing Hammerhead from jail right now and having all charges against him dropped too. Well, that answered that question. This was a hostage-negotiation situation. Pulling on her mask she mused that maybe this was some kind of tie-in to the kidnapping she and Miles had faced a month ago. First, they’d tried to get at the police (their dads) actually working the case by taking them. When that had gone belly-side up, they must have decided the next best thing was to lie in wait for this fair and hold everyone here hostage to use as leverage.

While she engaged her web-shooter and began to consider how she should take them out for the maximum safety of everyone involved, Gwen was nearly startled into falling off the beam she was perched on when the Prowler appeared on the stage and swiped his claws through the man yelling into the microphone. She winced as the goon crumpled with a short, strangled cry of pain, but mused it could be worse. Everyone, the children especially, could have still been standing up watching the stage if Prowler decided to make his appearance earlier.  _That_ would have been horrific. Well, more horrific than what was already happening, anyway. Gwen's attention was drawn back to the action below when all of the other goons standing out among the fairgoers-turned-hostages raised their weapons and pointed them at Prowler. Wasting no time, Gwen began to shoot off streams of webbing at their guns, clogging a number of them and knocking the rest from their hands. Prowler looked up at her when he realized what was happening. She wriggled her fingers at him in greeting before swinging herself off the beam and down onto the stage to stand next to him.

“Hey,” she said, “I thought being the hero was my thing.”

The Prowler didn’t reply and instead shot off the stage to go after a couple of men who were trying to run away from the fairground now that the realized they were fucked. Unable to stomach the idea of seeing anyone else end up like the guy who’d been using the microphone, Gwen shot off webs at the runners’ legs. Knees and below now bound, they toppled to the ground with shouts of surprise and grunts of pain. While they were probably a little bruised up from their falls, Gwen wasn’t sorry. They still had their lives, unlike the sorry idiot who’d been yelling into the microphone.  She turned her gaze to some of the men still hanging around and asked, “Who’s next?”

Unsurprisingly, they all scattered.

Gwen sighed loudly and complained, “Do you really think you’re going to get out of here with _both_ me and the Prowler chasing you idiots?”

-o-O-o-

In what felt like no time, with the help of the Prowler, Gwen had the goons who’d tried to turn the fair into hostage situation bound in her webs and waiting by the curb for police vans to roll up to take them to nearby precincts for booking. When finished, she dusted off her hands and turned to the Prowler. Putting a hand on her hip and attempting for casual as he deepened her voice just a little to distort her identity further, she said, “Thanks for your help.”

He nodded.

She smiled behind her mask and told him, “You know if you ever wanted to switch over to the hero business, I think you’d make a pretty great one. God knows I could use the help too with all of these new baddies coming out of the woodwork…”

The Prowler scoffed and crossed his arms.

In response, Gwen shrugged like it was no skin off of her nose and turned her attention over to the fairground only to spot Rio and Miles quickly approaching the two of them near the street a moment later. Miles’s face was bright with excitement while Rio looked a bit leery, but determined. She waved at him. “Hey, kid,” she greeted.

“Spider-Woman!” Miles shouted with delight before running at her. She caught the kid and swung him up into her arms. “You saved me again!” he told her as he hugged her around her neck. “Thank you!”

Gwen returned the hug and then put Miles down. “Aw, it’s no biggie,” she said. “I’m just doing my job.”

Miles giggled a little before turning to Prowler. While he looked very much like he wanted to give him a hug too, he refrained and instead gave the man the biggest grin Gwen had seen out of the kid yet. “Thank you for rescuing us too, Prowler.”

She looked at the villain. While his mask did a pretty good job of obscuring his emotions, from the way his hands just sort of hung loosely at his side as he stared down at Miles told Gwen Prowler was shocked to be thanked for his part in today’s act of heroism. Gwen decided to try her luck and grabbed the supposed villain’s arm and forced it forward for Miles to grab onto and shake.

“He says you’re welcome,” Gwen told Miles.

The Prowler turned to stare at her and she could feel his irritation at her burning through the eyes of his mask. She didn’t let it bug her in the slightest and instead gave him a nudge to grasp Miles’s hand and shake it now that the kid had placed his fingers in his palm. Reluctantly, the Prowler did so.

“You’d make a super awesome hero!” Miles enthused. “And I think your claws are cool too!”

He nodded at Miles, thanking him silently for his compliments. Miles, seemingly pleased with the reaction let go of the Prowler and went back to his mom who wasted no time wrapping an arm around her son. “Bye Prowler! Bye Spider-Woman! We have to go find my uncle and friend Gwen!”

Gwen tensed at the remark. Shit, MJ and the rest of her band had to be wondering where she’d gotten to. She hoped they weren’t freaking out too much. Waving goodbye at Rio and Miles as they retreated back to the grounds, she lifted her other hand and pointed her shooter at the ledge of a building across the street. “You got this, right?” she asked Prowler.

He stared at her like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She just smirked. It wasn’t like the goons were going anywhere and given Prowler’s track record, she was sure he could slip away from the police when they arrived and become Aaron again without a problem.

Laughing, she said, “Yeah, I think you do.” Shooting her web and swinging away, she yelled, “See you around, Prowler! I hope we can do this again some time!”

As she swung away down the street and disappeared around the corner of a building only to begin swinging back in the direction of the fair, Gwen began to formulate a plan on how to get back into the fairgrounds unnoticed and to the stage where her civvie-clothes were. She realized it would be a tricky task, but she was certain could manage it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was this action-y chapter for you? Did you like the little team-up between Prowler and Spider-Woman?
> 
> Thanks for reading and please let know your thoughts, complimentary and critical, with a comment and/or kudo!


	3. Planting the Seed

“Gwen! Oh, God!” MJ exclaimed as she and their bandmates all but tackled her with a hug.

Not even stumbling at their combined force and weight, Gwen brought up a hand to pat each of their backs before gently extracting herself from their dog-pile. “Whoa,” she said, “what’s wrong?”

MJ stared at her like she was crazy. “You mean besides everything?” she asked. “And you disappeared! We were worried one of those creeps dragged you off somewhere and we were going to find out from a news report you were being held hostage in, like, a motel room somewhere!”

She winced a little at her bandmate’s vivid scenario. Was she glad she’d made her reappearance now and not five minutes from now. It would have been super embarrassing for her band to report her still missing and have all the police who were trying to take care of the goons by the street try and split their attention and try and look for her too. “Well, I’m fine,” she told them. “I just ended up on a different side of the stage from you guys and then mixed up in some crowds afterward.”

“Thank God!” MJ cried, hand going to her heart.

Gwen decided to humor her. “Thank God,” she agreed before twisting around to start searching the fairgoers for Miles and Rio, maybe Aaron too if he was back. “Have you run into Rio and Miles?” she questioned. “I’m worried about how the kid might be doing. After what we went through before this…” she trailed off only to bite her bottom lip. She’d never gone into detail with MJ or the other girls about her kidnapping and refused to talk about it beyond the broadest strokes. It just hadn’t been a big deal to her and she didn’t want them to worry about her when they didn’t have to.

“Yeah,” MJ answered. “Come on, I saw them by the fishbowl stand, like, five minutes ago.” Grabbing onto Gwen’s wrist, she guided them all over to the game where you could win a fish just a little less than twenty or so feet from where they’d been. Reaching the stand, she saw Rio holding Miles’s hand as her eyes anxiously darted around, looking for someone. Aaron, she figured. Gwen swiveled her head side-to-side and looked for him too.

It was only for a brief moment, however, because Miles started to yell, “Gwen! Gwen!”

Attention snapping to the kid, she smiled at him and strode forward. “Hey, kid,” she greeted. “Are you okay?”

Miles nodded. “It was scary, like being kidnapped, but not as much because I had Mommy.”

She ruffled his hair. “That’s good.”  
“And I got to say hi to Spider-Woman and the Prowler after!”

Gwen forced her eyes wide as she gasped, “Wow! No way!”

Grinning now, Miles rapidly bobbed his head. “Yeah!”

She lifted her eyes from Miles to Rio, who was still looking around a little, but less now that Gwen and her band was standing in front of her. “How are you?” she asked the mother in an empathetic tone.

Rio smiled in a way that came off more like a grimace. " _I_ _’m_ fine,” she answered. “But… I don’t know where Aaron’s gotten to.” She brought a thumb to her mouth and rested it against her lips like she may try to chew the nail only to jerkily pull it away and shove it in the pocket of her jeans. “Right before those… _Matones_ yelled at us to all get down, Aaron had said he was going to the bathroom.” Her gaze met Gwen’s briefly, the anxiety in them shining brightly. “He should have found us by now,” she said.

Gwen was going to agree and offer to search for him (only to alleviate her fears because she knew Aaron was probably busy changing back into his civvies and trying to find his way back into the fair past all of the police who were swarming around) when the man himself walked up, arms open wide and grinning. “There you are!” he boomed as he swept up his sister-in-law and nephew in a strong embrace. “I looked for you where you’d been, but you were gone.”

“We were looking for you!” Rio returned followed by a breathy, nervous laugh. “I guess we just kept missing each other.”

Aaron nodded. “That’s probably it,” he agreed. Letting go of Rio and Miles, he turned to Gwen and her band. “Are you girls all right? I hear one of those mobsters jumped on the stage.”

Gwen nodded while MJ said, “Yeah, we’re okay. We jumped off and they didn’t bother us beyond forcing us to lay face-down like everybody else.”

He bobbed his head as he said, “Good, good.”

“Rio! Miles!” Everyone’s heads swiveled to look behind them where they saw Jefferson jogging up to them, eyes big.

Miles wriggled past them all to run to his dad. “Daddy!” he yelled, arms up. Jefferson wasted no time scooping up and his son and hugging him tightly. When he finally ended the embrace, he kept Miles on his hip as he finished off the rest of the distance between him and his wife at which point he wrapped an arm around her and brought her head under his chin.

“Thank God,” he murmured.

Rio had her eyes closed and looked far less tense than she had just a minute ago as she mumbled back, “We’re okay, Jeff.”

Miles’s dad kissed her forehead and then Miles’s before he let her go and put Miles back down on the ground. When he looked up, his eyes went immediately to Aaron. “Aaron,” he said, “I’m glad to see you’re in one piece too.”

The younger brother rolled his eyes. “Thanks, brother,” he said.

Jefferson then appeared to realize Gwen and her band were standing in front of his family, awkwardly looking between each other and the sky as the family had their little reunion. Appearing to realize his faux-pas, the man cleared his throat and said, “How are you kids holding up?”

“We’re fine, Officer Davis,” Gwen answered for the four of them. “Just a little shaken,” she explained while glancing at her bandmates who did, in fact, seem to still be twitchy.

“That’s good,” he replied followed by a sigh as he cast his gaze out upon the people milling around the fairground talking amongst themselves and with officers who were interviewing them. “I thought I’d be the last person to ever say this, but Spider-Woman did a good job today. I can only imagine how much worse things would have been if she didn’t make such a speedy appearance.”

“She didn’t do it all on her own,” Gwen felt the need to say. “The Prowler helped her.”

Jefferson gaped open-mouth at her, obviously shocked that she would go to bat for the villain. When Gwen sneaked a look at Aaron, she saw he was just as wide-eyed as his brother, maybe even a little more so. The surprise didn’t last long, however. Soon, a cynicalness took over Miles’s dad’s features and he crossed his arms and scoffed. “He was probably paid to take out the mobsters,” he said, “or they were causing him problems for a crime _he’s_ trying to commit.”

Gwen frowned and out of the corner of her eyes she could see Aaron’s hands turning into fists. She didn’t entirely blame him for his reaction. Villain or no, it was annoying to have your intentions misconstrued. All the man had wanted to do was keep his nephew safe, Gwen was sure of that. She knew she shouldn’t argue too much because the Prowler _was_ a villain, but even so, she countered, “It was still good of him. I doubt Spider-Woman would have been able to capture all of the goons without his help.”

Jefferson furrowed his brows and crossed his arm, displeased at her defense, but conceded. “You’re probably right about that,” he said. “Taking out twenty plus men isn’t a job anyone on their own could have done.” He chuckled. “Even Spider-Woman.”

She sneaked yet another look at Miles’s uncle, who appeared to have been put in a daze from their conversation. It was clear to her he’d never thought his brother would have anything remotely positive to say about his alter-ego. Gwen suppressed a snicker and assured the officer, “I know he’s not a hero.” Looking down at Miles who watched them all with wide, inquisitive eyes that were taking in everything said with deep fascination, she explained, “I just think we have to give credit where it’s due.” She bit her lip for a moment as she considered her next words. She had to make sure her defense of the Prowler wasn’t too strong, it might make Rio and Jefferson wary of keeping her on as a babysitter for Miles. A teenage-girl infatuated with a villain wasn’t probably the best influence to have around your impressionable son, after all. She looked at her feet and kicked the dirt before looking up and meeting the officer’s assessing gaze. “Then again, I could be a bit biased. He _did_ rescue me and Miles.”

Her bandmates gasped. She’d never said who saved her and Miles, just that someone had helped them get away. Gwen hadn’t thought it something she should share with everyone, let alone some regular teenagers. Liz, the bassists of their band, had a thing for bad boys and she’d worried hearing a known villain had done just a _little_ good might encourage her fixation on the rough and mean boys she was always falling in and out of love with. Gwen kept her attention fixed on Jefferson and ignored their gobsmacked faces in favor of saying, “It just makes me wonder if he’s really as a bad a guy as we’ve been led to believe, you know? Or if maybe he’s not trying to turn over a new leaf?”

“It is confusing, I’ll give you that,” Jefferson agreed as he scratched the back of his neck. He sighed and shook his head. “I wish I knew what to tell you, Gwen. _I_ think it’s all self-serving and we just don’t know what his purpose is for helping you and Miles and then Spider-Woman today.” He smiled at her. “But I like your optimism.” He laughed a little and then turned to Miles, playfully wagging a finger in his son’s face. “Don’t let it get back to Spider-Woman, but I wouldn’t mind if the Prowler _was_ turning over a new leaf. While I still think serving justice should be left in the hands of the law, I’d _much_ rather have another vigilante than a villain.”

Gwen grinned and laughed, as did everyone else, even Aaron after a moment. As the conversation moved onto other, less serious things, Gwen snuck yet another glance at Aaron and saw that he was distracted and a pensiveness pervaded his gaze. She wondered what he thought of all that had been said about the Prowler. What he might do now that people were speculating on his true nature. She wasn’t so naive to think he was going to actually turn over a new leaf after this, but she hoped now that the seed had been planted it might start to grow and someday, hopefully, sooner rather than later, take root and she may have him for an ally instead of an adversary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the series's first multi-chap! How did you all like it?
> 
> Thank you for reading and please let me know your thoughts (good and not so good) with a comment and/or kudo :)


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